Negotiation Team Headed to ABA Negotiation Nationals

DECEMBER 6, 2013—The University of Minnesota Law School's student negotiation teams made a strong showing at the ABA Region 7 Negotiation Competition, which was held in St. Paul, Minn., Nov. 9-10. Twenty-four teams from across the United States and Canada competed in the Region 7 event. The Law School's two teams, sponsored by the Corporate Institute, are comprised of Christie Sullivan (’15) - Dan Hegg (’16) and Matt Lawlyes (’14) - Dillon White (’16).

Both Minnesota teams did extremely well, and the Sullivan-Hegg team placed second overall in the regional finals. This team has accepted an invitation to compete in the National Negotiation Competition, to be held during the ABA Mid-Year Meeting in Chicago on February 7-8. Only the top 16 teams from all the regional competitions are invited to the nationals.

This year's negotiation problems have been based on contract law. Students participate in the competition as attorneys negotiating on behalf of their clients. Some facts are known to all parties, but each side of the negotiation also has confidential facts. The competition is judged on planning, flexibility, outcome, teamwork, and relationship between the team members.

"We're proud of the success and high level of achievement of the Law School's negotiation teams over the years, and this year continues a significant trend," says David Fisher, Executive Director of the Corporate Institute at the Law School. In recent years, the Law School has been both active and successful in these highly competitive negotiation events. Since 2009, teams from the Law School have advanced to the final round of the ABA regional competition four times, to the ABA national competition twice, and to the International Negotiation Competition once, winning second place on that occasion.

The Law School's Corporate Institute-sponsored teams are coached by Helen Winder, in-house attorney at Detector Electronics Corporation (Det-Tronics), a United Technologies company. Winder practices law in the areas of international sales and manufacturing operations. In addition to coaching the negotiation teams, she is an adjunct associate professor at the Law School, teaching transactional courses.

Back row, left to right: Dillon White (’16) and Matt Lawlyes (’14). Front row, team headed to the National Negotiation Competition in Chicago, left to right: Helen Winder, Christie Sullivan (’15) and Dan Hegg (’16).